


The Children of Old Friends, Not Forgotten

by adroitstories



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25433518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adroitstories/pseuds/adroitstories
Summary: Ahsoka and Rex meet the pilot who destroyed the Death Star on Yavin IV.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	The Children of Old Friends, Not Forgotten

The commlink beeped. Ahsoka sighed minutely and raised her communicator to her face. “Fulcrum,” she answered.

“Good to have you back,” the voice on the other end chirped.

“Senator Mothma,” Ahsoka said, a slow smile spreading on her face.

“You need to come to Yavin 4 immediately. There’s a few people you’ll want to see.”

“Now?” Ahsoka asked.

“Trust me. You’ll want to see them.”

Ahsoka looked at Sabine and sighed. The other woman shrugged. “Yavin 4 is a bit out of our way, but it’s not like we really know where we’re going.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Alright, we can be there in the next standard cycle.”

“May the Force be with you.”

“And with you,” Ahsoka said.

There was no conversation in the ship for a while, the sound of the ship’s groans and beeps echoing sharply.

“Do you know who she could be talking about?” Sabine asked after a while.

Ahsoka shook her head. “Perhaps an informant that used my callsign? Maybe Saw Gerrera? Though they famously don’t get along.”

Sabine chuckled. “I don’t blame him. Mothma’s annoying.”

Ahsoka smiled wryly. “Didn’t you get kidnapped by him once?”

“And I still respect him more than I do Mothma,” Sabine answered.

Ahsoka chuckled.

* * *

When they arrived at Yavin 4, they quickly reported to Mothma and Rebel Command. The whole atmosphere was jubilant, although the overjoyed atmosphere was quickly waning. Ahsoka saw a familiar face, also on his way to Rebel Command.

“Rex!” she shouted. She saw him freeze, then turn slowly.

A wide grin spread over his face, and she could feel rather than see the tears forming in his eyes.

“Ahsoka,” he breathed, and she broke into a run. She hugged him, and she could almost feel her ribs pop, he was hugging her so tightly.

“You’re alive,” he breathed.

She didn’t say anything, no witty response, no snappy comment. They both knew how precious this was, after decades of war. She only hugged him tighter.

“I’m here,” she said simply.

He pulled back, and his deep brown eyes bored into hers. She could feel the plea— _don’t leave me here again_.

She could make no promises. She merely rested her forehead against his, and they savored the moment for a long time.

When they finally broke the hug, Rex finally noticed Sabine. His face broke into a wider grin. “Sabine!” He extended his hand. “Been a long time!”

She grasped his elbow like a good Mando. “Too long, Rex,” she smiled sadly.

“Ezra around?” Rex asked hopefully.

Ahsoka’s face hardened. “Not exactly.”

Rex looked like he wanted to ask for more details, but thought better of it. He sighed. “I’m on my way to Rebel Command. There’s someone they wanted me to meet.”

Ahsoka cocked her head. “I got the same message.”

Rex looked confused. Then there was a brightness in his eyes. “Cody? It’s got to be Cody!”

Ahsoka pressed her lips into a line. “I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

Rex shook himself. “Yeah, yeah. Can’t let that get the better of me,” he said, his voice bitter and old.

Ahsoka placed a hand on his shoulder.   
“Alright, let’s go,” Rex said. His voice and eyes were hard.

The doors slid open. Senator Mothma and several other Rebel Leaders were there.   
“Fulcrum, General,” Mothma greeted them.

“I’m no general, sir,” Rex said quickly.

There was a dry chuckle. “You are now, sir.”

Ahsoka bumped Rex’s shoulder. “Congrats on the promotion, _ori’vod_.”

Rex just rolled his eyes.

“There’s someone I think you should meet.” And Mothma turned to reveal a young human man, straw-blonde with blue eyes.

Ahsoka felt her stomach drop. His presence in the Force—it was like a star gone nova. She hadn’t felt anything like that since—

Mothma turned, pity in her eyes. “Meet the pilot who destroyed the Death Star.”

The man smiled. “Hi there. My name is Luke Skywalker.”

Rex froze. Ahsoka watched as the whole word slipped away, except for Luke. His smile was blinding. It was so—so shy and awkward—it was _his_ smile whenever he was embarrassed. Rex gripped her hand so hard she thought she bones would crack.

The man stopped smiling, cocking his head. “Is something wrong?”

Rex and Ahsoka couldn’t breathe. They could only look upon _his_ son. Ahsoka tried to catalogue all the ways he was his son. Her eyes roved over him and came up with a thousand different ways. She knew if she looked closer she would find a million more similarities. Force, he really was _his_ child.

“They served with your father in the Clone Wars.” Mothma’s voice sounded like it came from far away.

Luke lit up. “You knew my father?”

Rex cleared his throat. “I was your father’s second in command,” he said, voice rough.

“Nice to meet you! What’s your name?”

There was an aching, stinging innocence and sincerity to Luke’s words. Ahsoka wanted to scream. It was too unfair.

“My name is Rex.” His voice was wooden, carefully controlled. Came from a lifetime of war and espionage and secrets, as she knew all too well.

Luke turned to her then. “And what’s your name?”

Ahsoka found herself pinned by that earnest blue gaze—his blue eyes.

“My name is Ahsoka Tano.”

Luke grinned broadly. “It’s great to meet you!” He glanced at her lightsabers. “You’re a Jedi, too? I’m a Jedi!”

And Ahsoka wanted to cry and scream: No I’m not, no you’re not, and you can’t ever be, they all died a long time ago, your father made sure of it…

“Could you teach me the ways of the Force?” Luke asked, pleading.

Ahsoka closed her eyes. She couldn’t speak for a long while.

Luke coughed then. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think of how hard this must be for you,” he apologized.

“No, no, don’t be sorry,” Ahsoka said, her voice full of unshed tears. “I’ll teach you. You are a lot like him.”

Luke smiled, but it wasn’t one of his smiles. It reminded her of one of Obi-Wan’s smiles—tiny and full of grief. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Let us look at you for a while, kid,” Rex said. “There are a lot of memories we haven’t dealt with in a while.”

Luke nodded. “Of course. You want to talk about it?” he asked, bringing them into a back room. “Might make it easier, more shoulders to share the burden.”

Ahsoka laughed brokenly. “That sounds like a wise idea.”

Luke looked at them. “All I really know about my father was that he was a Jedi. He was Ben’s apprentice—”

“Ben?” Ahsoka asked.

Luke winced. “Sorry. Obi-Wan Kenobi. He lived on Tatooine, I mostly thought him a weird hermit, but he gave me this!” And Luke pulled out his lightsaber and something in Ahsoka broke.

Rex was the first one to hold it, reverently. “Gods and stars, I can’t tell you how many times he dropped this stupid thing.”

Luke and Ahsoka laughed.

“He really did,” Ahsoka said, allowing some tears to fall. “And then he’d always act so smug whenever we gave it back, like he didn’t just drop it five times and need to be rescued.”

“Remember that time on Cato Nemoidia?” Rex asked gently. Ahsoka laughed then.

“His ship was covered in buzz droids,” Ahsoka choked out. “He got knocked out and I had to save his stupid _shebs_.”

“Or that time on Geonosis?”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “I was only there the second time, you were there the first and second, right?”

Rex shifted. “Yeah. Lost a lot of good _vod_.” He closed his eyes.

Ahsoka let the man grieve for a minute, then turned to Luke. “What do you know of the Clone Wars?”

Luke shrugged. “Not much. All I know is that the Emperor—” and here Luke spit, “used it to gain power and create the Empire.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Fair enough, and true enough. None of us realized who he was until too late.”

“No one we listened to, anyways,” Rex said, old grief and bitterness creeping into his voice. Ahsoka took his hand in hers and gave a comforting squeeze. Turning back to Luke, she started on a very abridged history of the Clone Wars, sketching out the major players and turning points, and including the history of the clones. He listened attentively, asking few questions. When Ahsoka had finished, Luke was quiet.

“I’m sorry to dump all this on you, Luke,” Ahsoka said. Luke shook his head.

“It’s alright, really.” He smiled. “Its just…crazy to think about. A week ago I’m home on Tatooine with my aunt and uncle, and now I’ve blown up the Death Star, faced down Imperial Troops, rescued a princess, and learned the truth about my father.”

“You were on Tatooine?” Ahsoka asked. Luke nodded, a frown on his face.

“Yeah. So glad I’m off that hunk of sand.”

Rex laughed at that. Ahsoka smiled wanly. “Your father thought that about Tatooine, too,” he said.

“Wait, hold on a minute,” Ahsoka said, “you just joined the Rebellion? And you just…blew up the Death Star?”

Luke nodded, having the good sense to look sheepish. “I, uh, trusted the Force?” He scrunched his nose, just like _he_ did when he was confused.

Ahsoka and Rex just looked at each other, and burst into laughter.

“Oh, he’s totally…”

“Who else…”

They couldn’t breathe for laughter. It had been a while since either of them had laughed like that. Rex’s sides hurt, and he found he had tears in his eyes.

Luke just frowned at them. “Did I do something wrong?”

Rex was quick to reassure the other man. “No, no not at all. It’s just…” and here he looked wistfully at Luke, “that’s just his luck. That was the kind of man he was. He was the best pilot in the galaxy.”

Luke looked at Rex and sniffed. “I don’t know, I’m not a bad pilot myself.”

“You know, you can ask us anything about him that you want, you know,” Rex said softly. He exhaled and closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t mind giving some of these memories to you.”

Luke thought for a moment. “Could he cook?”

Ahsoka snorted. “When he wanted to.”

“He was usually too lazy to cook, but when he had the chance, he could be adequate about it,” Rex shrugged.

“Was he tall?” Luke scowled.

Rex giggled. “Jealous much, kid?”

“A little,” Luke squinted.

“Yes,” Ahsoka said, smiling. “He was very tall.”

“Kriff it,” Luke muttered. He squared his shoulders and faced both of them. “Was he kind?”

The question took them by surprise. Rex sighed. “He was one of the kindest men I’ve ever known. He had a temper that he struggled with, and he was a reckless leader sometimes, but he was always compassionate and kind and he cared very much for the people no one else cared for.”

Luke thought for a moment. “Did he love my mother?” he asked quietly.

Ahsoka closed her eyes, trying to stem the flood of memories. Rex clenched his fist and looked away.

“He loved your mother so much,” Ahsoka said, her voice a rasp. “He loved her more than anyone else, and I know he would have loved you too.”

“You wouldn’t believe how many times I saw them just looking at each other, like they both hung the stars.” Rex exhaled.

“Did she…?” Luke looked like he was going to cry, or be sick.

Ahsoka took his hand. “Look, I know she loved you so much. She died, I think right after you were born, because if she had lived there was no way she would have given you away.”

Luke exhaled, and his shoulders slumped in relief. “That’s good to know.” He swallowed. “What was she like?”

Ahsoka and Rex only looked at him, matching his face to those of her almost forgotten friends.

“Your mother was one of the best people in the galaxy,” Ahsoka said quietly. “She was compassionate and merciful and kind, but she was also brilliant and never backed down from a fight.”

“She was one of the only people that saw us as people, not just clones,” Rex said.

Luke’s eyes grew wide. “What was her name?”

Ahsoka couldn’t speak. Her throat tightened and she couldn’t see for her tears. Rex took a deep breath. “Her name was Padmé Amidala, Queen and Senator of Naboo.”

“Naboo?” Luke looked sickened. “That’s the Emperor’s planet.”

Ahsoka chuckled, old and brittle. “And your mother’s planet, too.”

Luke looked contemplative at that. “Listen,” he began, “I know that you’re both old war veterans, and I know I have a lot to learn. Not only in using the Force and becoming a Jedi—” he nodded at Ahsoka, “—but also in command, tactics, and strategy. Could I learn from you?” he asked, tentatively. At the surprised looks Ahsoka and Rex shot him, he hastened to explain. “I mean, I know you’re probably willing to teach me, but…you look at me with old memories in your eyes.”

Ahsoka smiled. “I am humbled that you are so thoughtful, Luke. I will teach you, but if I ever brood too much, let me know, alright?”

Rex gently elbowed her. Then he turned to Luke. “And I’m a general now, so really, I’m your commanding officer, Lieutenant Skywalker. You will most definitely learn from me.”

Ahsoka saw how much effort it took for Rex to say that, and slung her arm over his shoulders.

Luke just grinned. He stood and saluted. “I await your orders, General Rex.” And then he bowed to Ahsoka. “Whenever you’re free to teach me, I’m there.”

“Dismissed, lieutenant,” Rex said. When Luke walked away, it was all he could do to hold onto Ahsoka’s hand and not break down in tears. Ahsoka gripped his hand just as tightly, her orange knuckles turning almost white with the pressure.

“Should we have told him about Vader?” Ahsoka asked.

Rex rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know,” he sighed. “Maybe one day.”

Ahsoka nodded once. “One day.”


End file.
